April 26, 2012--Resurgent
Republic, a group of top Republican pollsters, held a breakfast with
reporters to discuss the findings of a recent series of focus groups of
"Obama Independents." Summarizing the findings, honorary chairman
Haley Barbour stated, "The more facts they [voters] know, they less
likely they are to be for Obama."

Resurgent Republic's Target
Voter Series comprised 24 focus groups of voters who supported Obama in
2008. The focus groups were conducted between late February
and early April in 11
battleground states and drew
people from six
key demographic groups—suburban women, young voters, seniors,
independents, Hispanics and blue collar Catholics. The 24 focus
groups totaled about 50 hours of discussion.

According to the pollsters, the focus groups showed that while Obama
fares well in personal likeability, the down state of the economy,
energy costs, and a range of statistics on everything from debt to home
values are starting to raise doubts among some of the voters in these
groups. The pollsters pointed to questions focus group
participants raised about leadership ability and whether Obama was
"in over his head" and "has he delivered what
he promised." Goeas, for example, cited a focus group participant
who said
Obama "talks a good game, but I'm not seeing results." Speaking
of young voters, Ed Goeas, president and CEO of
The Tarrance Group, said that, "No candidate
will be able to run on hope and change with this group."

Although it is still relatively early in the
campaign (Barbour noted, "A lot of these poeple don't think the
campaign's started yet"), the lines for the general election battle
are being drawn right now. Indeed Goeas stated "The next
30 days are going to be the most important 30 days on the framing of
this campaign."

According to its website:

"Resurgent Republic is a 501(c)(4) organization dedicated to shaping
the
debate over the proper role of government. We are an independent,
not-for-profit organization modeled on Democracy Corps, which has made
important contributions to the public debate from the left and has
proven to be a valuable resource for labor unions, environmentalists,
and liberal Congressional leaders."